Work from office helps with better team building and learning, says TCS CEO K Krithivasan

Missed Informal Conversations

Krithivasan said that while video conferencing tools like Zoom and Microsoft Teams are efficient, they overlook the essential informal conversations or chitchat that occurs in the office. He added that TCS had missed the collaboration and camaraderie among associates working remotely, especially those who joined in the last two to three years and have not yet visited the office.

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“Within TCS we value collaboration and camaraderie of employees. Things were getting back to normal, but our associates still worked from home, and we missed collaboration and camaraderie. While Zoom and Teams are very efficient tools, we overlook the informal conversation – the chitchat that happens at the office. Around 30-40 percent of our associates joined in the past two to three years, and for the first two years, they have not even come to the office. If they don’t come to office what is the value that they will stand for,” he asked.

The CEO also felt that crucial learning experiences for employees, such as observing how seniors handle client situations, cannot be adequately taught through other forms of training, adding that the majority of TCS customers prefer employees to work from the office.

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Outlook on Global Market and Opportunities

Discussing the global market, Krithivasan maintained a cautiously optimistic stance, particularly in the medium term. He noted the abundant opportunities for technology work and modernisation, emphasizing the growing interest in leveraging Generation artificial intelligence (AI).

Regarding the short-term outlook, said it is challenging to make predictions but was optimistic about the next year and anticipating improvements over the current year. He attributed this optimism to early green shoots observed in some large industry verticals.

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“We are continuing to be cautiously optimistic – more in the medium term than the long term. There is so much technology work and modernisation left to be done. Everyone wants to leverage Gen AI. So we have a lot of opportunities. In the short term, it is too difficult to take a call. Next year will be better than this year. The reason being in some of the large industry verticals, we have started seeing early green shoots,” he said.

In response to a question about the decoupling between revenue and headcount, Krithivasan acknowledged the term as strong. Despite a lower number of employee hires in FY24 compared to recent years, he explained that many organisations had previously hired ahead of demand. With demand stabilization, TCS has begun utilising its existing workforce, including the bench.

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Published: 21 Feb 2024, 09:48 AM IST